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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

NEW RELEASES: MODERN JAZZ QUARTET – LIVE IN PARIS 1960-1961; THE CRUSADERS – STANDING TALL; SOUL ON THE REAL SIDE #5 (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

MODERN JAZZ QUARTET – LIVE IN PARIS 1960-1961

Unreleased material by the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet –
recorded live in Paris in 1960 and 1961, at a time when the city was virtually
becoming a second home for the group! The recording quality is great – these
performances appear to be done for radio – and there's an open-ended sense of
performance that's both different than the group's studio recordings of the
period, and even some of their other live material too – a way of hearing their
perfection in action, but with maybe more of a sense of spontaneity too. John
Lewis speaks a bit, announcing some songs – and titles include
"Pyramid", "La Ronde", "Django",
"Bluesology", "Why Are You Blue", "Lonely Woman",
"Animal Dance", "Piazza Navona", "Colombine",
"Belkis", "How High The Moon", "Concorde",
"Fugato", "Trieste", "Bag's Groove", "Night
In Tunisia", "Golden Striker", "If I Were Eve", and
"Yesterdays". ~ Dusty Groove

THE CRUSADERS – STANDING TALL

The Crusaders standing tall at the start of the 80s –
getting great grooves from the lean trio of Wilton Felder on saxes and bass,
Joe Sample on keyboards, and Stix Hooper on drums! The mighty Barry Finnerty
handles most of the guitar solos here – although David T Walker also plays a
bit too – and other high-end guests round out the sound with a very
professional feel, including Billy Preston on organ, Marcus Miller on bass, and
Larry Carlton on more guitar. As with other Crusaders albums of this vintage,
vocals play a part in the sound – sung here by Joe Cocker on two tracks,
sounding almost better here than on his own material. Titles include
"Standing Tall", "This Old World's Too Funky For Me",
"Luckenbach Texas", "The Longest Night", and "Sunshine
In Your Eyes". (SHM-CD pressing!) ~ Dusty Groove

SOUL ON THE REAL SIDE #5 (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Maybe the best volume so far in this excellent series – a compilation
collection that never lets us down, but which really brings something special
to the mix this time around! There's a wealth of obscure modern soul tracks
here – nicely grooving numbers from the 70s and early 80s, mixed with a few
choice cuts from later years, too – but all with a warm glow that's plenty
classic all the way through – that special blend of soul that made the 70s
mellow groove so great! Many tracks are quite obscure, and haven't been
reissued elsewhere – and the set features 20 titles in all, with cuts that
include "Give Him Up" by First Generation, "Sha-La Bandit"
by Delores Hall, "Love Is A Game" by Harry Ray, "Whisper In Your
Ear" by Reggie Griffin, "I've Quit Running The Streets" by
Garland Green, "Baby Don't Wake Me" by Del Davis, "No One Can
Love You Like I Do" by Flakes, "Just The Way You Like It" by
Leon Bryant, "I Wanna Spend My Whole Life With You" by Street People,
"Be Real" by Tomorrow's Edition, "Let's Do It Now" by JALN
Band, "Rain In My Life" by Prophecy, "Aah Dance" by Fine
Quality feat Cuz, and Lisa Stansfield's great version of "A Case Of Too
Much Love Making". ~ Dusty Groove